table of contents - web viewdevelop an overall presentation approach. develop a training plan for a...

Unit NotesICAICT302A Install and optimise

operating system softwareTopic 4 - Provide instruction to meet

new software requirements & gain feedback

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Date last saved: 31 August 2012 by Tracy NorrisRachael Power Version: 1.6 # of Pages = 5

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Acknowledgements:

Project Manager: Julie Board

Instructional Design: Tracy Norris

Graphic Design: Mark Keevers (Template design)

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ICAICT302A Install and optimise operating system software

Table of ContentsTable of Contents.................................................................................................................3Getting Started......................................................................................................................4

Using these notes...............................................................................................................4

Topic 4 - Provide instruction to meet new software requirements & gain feedback.....4One-to-one instruction.........................................................................................................5

Determining client’s training needs....................................................................................5Strategies to find out about client needs.............................................................................6

Meeting client’s training needs............................................................................................6

Setting learning objectives..................................................................................................6

Feedback...............................................................................................................................7The need for evaluation......................................................................................................7

The process of evaluation...................................................................................................8

Key indicators of usability and performance.......................................................................8

The value of feedback.........................................................................................................9

Analysing and processing feedback..................................................................................10

Summary.............................................................................................................................12Check your understanding................................................................................................13

Learning Activity 4.1: Practice..........................................................................................13Glossary of Terms..............................................................................................................13

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Getting StartedThese unit notes have been developed to provide a learning pathway to competence in ICAICT302A Install and optimise operating system software.

The notes contain all the skills and knowledge learning required to achieve competence.

Using these notesIcons and symbols are used throughout this guide to provide quick visual references. They indicate the following:

Icon Meaning Icon Meaning

ACTIVITY: An activity is listed to be completed

ACTIVITY: A Learning activity requiring some physical action

WWW: A web link is listed REFLECTION: A point is to be considered and thought about more deeply

IMPORTANT: A pivotal point is detailed

SEARCH: A particular item / book etc needs to be found and applied

Topic 4 - Provide instruction to meet new software requirements & gain feedbackFinally you will learn how to provide instruction to clients in a group or one-to-one training session. There are similarities between group and one-to-one training, such as determining client needs, formulating training plans and obtaining feedback. However, each has advantages over the other depending on the training required, and it is important to be able to select the appropriate training option accordingly.

At the end of this topic you will know how to

Provide one-to-one instruction about changes to the client or users as required

Obtain client evaluation about new system to ensure requirements are met, using appropriate feedback mechanism.

A Common ScenarioJay, a clerical officer, has this to say about the help desk at his organisation:

“Some people at our ‘help’ desk are not at all helpful. They assume they know what my needs are. They use IT jargon. Or they might just quickly go into a monologue. I feel like saying, ‘Can you just come and show me on my computer?’ Worse, there are some of them who are quite impatient and I feel as if I’m wasting their time. At the end of a negative experience like that, I just feel like giving up.

I have to say, however, that there are some at the help desk who do help. They take time to listen carefully as you state your problem. They also take you through the process step-by-step and they make sure they’ve fully resolved your problem before they leave you to it"

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ReflectThink of some of your experiences that have involved instruction. You may have received instructions from a teacher, an instructor, a co-worker or a supervisor. You may have had to provide instruction to classmates, friends, co-workers and clients. If you are working, think of some instruction or training situations in your own workplace or any other place where knowledge transfer has occurred. It could have been a construction site, a driving lesson, a childcare centre or a ferry.

What do you think makes a good instructor?

FeedbackGenerally a good instructor is someone who:

adopts an enthusiastic attitude about the subject matter

has a good grounding in the subject matter

is able to simplify difficult tasks and concepts for the learners

is confident in presenting the information

has a friendly manner that puts the learners at ease.

One-to-one instructionOne-to-one instruction is personalised training. You may, as trainer, for example, sit next to the learner (client) at their workstation and go through the features of an updated version of a software package; or you may give step-by-step instructions to someone over the phone.

Think of the time when you first learned to drive. You had an instructor sitting right there beside you. You would certainly have had quite a different experience if you had learned to drive in a group. With theoretical subjects, you may probably gain from the questions and comments from others in the group, but not with practical skills like driving! It is also quite common to find yourself sitting through group instruction in areas in which you are already competent or which may not be relevant to your own needs.

Determining client’s training needsIt is necessary to work out the specific training needs of individuals, in order for them to achieve the training goal. This is also known as conducting a training needs analysis.

Then you can compare what they already know with what they will be expected to know by the end of the training. The ‘gaps’ indicate the skills and knowledge your training should focus on. These will become the learning objectives.

To determine a client’s training needs, you will need to consider:

the overall goal of the training the specific tasks the client needs to perform the skills needed in order to perform those tasks the different levels of training required for different learners — novice, advanced,

power-user or technical training.

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Strategies to find out about client needsDetermining the client’s training needs is similar to determining any sort of client need. You must be careful not to make assumptions. Focus on what the learner needs to know in order for them to perform the task, and also find out what they already know. The training should be valuable and appropriate to this particular learner or group.

The following are some strategies to find out about client’s training needs. You may develop more strategies as you go along.

Ask

Employees need to acquire new skills and competencies to function effectively when there are changes in their workplace, be it the introduction of new technology or new work procedures. A good understanding of the stakeholders and their current competency levels will give you an idea of their training needs.

Conduct a diagnostic activity

A good solution is to prepare in advance a diagnostic activity. This might be a specific set of questions for the client, or it might be a sort of test to see whether the client can perform a series of tasks.

Practise good communication skills

Good communication skills, such as questioning and active listening techniques, will help you get useful information about client’s training needs.

Observe the client as they attempt to complete the task

This will help you see where the client’s gaps in knowledge and skills are and find out what they don’t know.

Do some research

You may be able to find out what the client’s recurring problems are. For example, you might be able to look through the help desk request log. Frequently requested help with a particular problem may alert you to a particular training need. This strategy is particularly useful in gauging any problems arising from the introduction of new technologies.

Find out about barriers to the learner (client)

Find out whether the learner (client) has any special needs, negative attitudes or phobias about any of the tasks they need to learn to perform. Before you offer training, you may need to help the client think positively about the training. For example, your client may have a disability or cultural barriers with regard to using certain types of technology.

Meeting client’s training needsNow you’re able to start planning the detail of your training session/s, in order to meet your client needs. You’ll need to:

1. Set the training (learning) objectives, identifying the skills and knowledge the client will gain.

2. Develop an overall presentation approach.3. Develop a training plan for a training session.4. Plan the demonstration and information you’ll give for each skill.

Setting learning objectives of 13


This involves identifying the skills and knowledge the client will gain. Once you’ve got a list of the tasks that the learner needs to be competent in, break each one down into a list of skills involved in each task. At this stage you can also think about how you will know that your client has acquired the new skills. This might involve them producing something for you, or you may be able to observe their performance to gauge their progress.

You may wish to draw up a checklist encompassing all the skills for that task. This checklist can be customised each time you need to instruct a new client.

On the checklist, allow a space next to each skill for you to tick if your client does not need instruction in that skill, or if/when they have developed the skill.

For example, for the some tasks centred around “using operating system functions” you might draw up a skills checklist like the one below:

Skills Complete

a Demonstrate a positive attitude towards the value and purpose of housekeeping by identifying some reasons why it may be useful.

b Demonstrate basic computer skills by being able to perform simple computer tasks such as starting a computer, starting application programmes and work in a windows-based environment

c Identify rules about acceptable practices when logging on

d Access files and documents using Windows Explorer.

e Use search to find folders and files

f Use the Recycle Bin to restore or delete files

g Run backup and restore

h Perform a disk clean-up

i Perform disk defragmentation, clean-up, etc

FeedbackCollecting feedback is the first step in the evaluation process that assesses the success or failure of the implementation of new technology, so that corrective measures can be taken if necessary. This is an important step — not only to ensure that the new system is relevant and effective but also to apply the findings for the benefit of future projects.

The need for evaluationEvaluation needs to be conducted after the migration into the new technology to assess the project’s success or failure. In this process, you must use the project success indicators to compare against the actual benefits and returns. During evaluation, data is collected, recorded and analysed to identify the benefits of the new technology.

Evaluation is conducted after implementation of new technology to:

Identify any issues relating to the relevance, effectiveness and efficiency of the hardware and software systems installed.

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Identify changes that are necessary to address any pressing issues. Ensure that the organisational process used for migrating to new technology are

acceptable to stakeholders and identify any changes that are necessary. Verify whether the system the system has delivered what was expected so as to

benefit future projects. Monitor long-term use of the system.

The process of evaluationThere are three steps in the evaluation process:

1. Collect, record and analyse feedback to track progress against the targets. Explain success and failures with respect to the performance indicators. Identify unintended positive or negative effects.

2. Decide on necessary adjustments to the system to increase its usability and performance.

3. Establish any lessons that could be learnt from this project so future information technology projects would be much more efficient.

Planning evaluationThe evaluation plan should be flexible enough to accommodate new questions and information sources. Here are some strategies in planning evaluation:

Obtain a list of all stakeholders of the new technology. Identify stakeholders that must be consulted to evaluate the performance and

usability of the system. Ensure that the sample chosen includes users, power users, support personnel, managers as well as customers (if applicable).

Identify any other data sources to collect information such as documents, reports, performance logs, etc.

Identify key performance indicators with regard to performance and usability of the software applications and hardware.

Determine the resources that are needed to carry out the evaluation. Identify the methodologies that will be used to conduct the evaluation. The possible

methodologies are: observations, questionnaires, walkthroughs, interviews, focus groups, etc.

Analyse the information collected and compare it against the targets of performance and usability.

Recommend potential enhancements to the system and identify any shortcomings of the implementation for the benefit of future projects.

Key indicators of usability and performanceThe overall objective of conducting usability and performance evaluation is to recommend changes that will contribute to increase user acceptance, increase productivity, decrease training and learning times, and increase business performance.

Key indicators of usabilityUsability of the system measures hardware and software user interface with respect to attributes such as ease of learning, ease of use and satisfaction in meeting user needs. A usable system ensures that the user can access the required feature instantly through its well-planned user interface. It also ensures that all control features are consistently presented so would need minimum training to identify various processes within the system. Indicators include:-

Ease of use — users find it easy to apply to their intended tasks.

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User satisfaction with the functional capabilities. Sufficient and easily accessible user support. Users are satisfied with the support

procedures such as help screen with context sensitive help, knowledge bases, help desk, etc.

Satisfactory initial experience. Users have successful initial experience with the software and/or hardware.

Integration with existing processes. The new system integrates well with existing processes.

Overall system capability. Users are satisfied with the overall capability and usefulness of the system.

Key indicators of performancePerformance of the system measures the reliability of the hardware and software. It includes:

the availability of the system the error rate the mean time taken to complete tasks.

The value of feedbackFeedback is extremely valuable in the evaluation of hardware and software as it provides an effective balance for your own observations and walkthroughs on the system. This is an ongoing process of keeping IT professionals informed of the performance and usability of the system and should not be treated as merely an event.

While positive feedback reinforces the implementation of the system, negative feedback provides very valuable information about how to improve the usability and the performance of the system. The performance improvements made due to the feedback will ultimately benefit the organisation.

Gathering feedbackThe goal of collecting feedback from users and gathering information from other sources is to enable the technology committee to assess how well the software and hardware implementation is satisfying the key usability and performance indicators.

Sources of informationYou can gather data from people, documents, performance data, observation of events or any other empirical method such as experiments and benchmarking.

Basic feedback gathering methodsThe ideal form of feedback gathering is to use a combination of the following methods depending on time and organisational factors.

Observations, walkthroughs and site visitsThese are conducted to get first-hand information on performance and usability features of the system. The internal or external evaluators will observe all stakeholders using the technology and observe usability and performance indicators of the system.

Walkthroughs are conducted where an evaluator walks through a certain feature to assess how the system performs that feature with respect to usability and performance indicators.

InterviewsHere are some tips for conducting interviews:

Choose stakeholders who would have greater or unique involvement with the new system.

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Communicate the purpose of the interview to the interviewee. Ask brief questions relevant to performance and usability of the system. Don’t interrupt. Be a good listener. Take notes.

Focus groupsThese are group interview situations where discussions can take place about the usability and the performance of the hardware and software. Here are some tips for conducting focus groups:

Reward the attendees by providing refreshments as this could be a good motivator. Start and finish on time. Be prepared to hear positive and negative comments. Be prepared with prompting questions to start the discussions about usability and

performance of the system. Let the participants communicate and listen carefully. Avoid being defensive. Listen to all comments. Engage a note-taker.

Surveys and questionnairesThese are used to gather quantifiable data about the system from a large number of people. You should make allowances for the low response rate and the slow response time. Here are some tips for conducting surveys:

State the objective of the survey as evaluating the performance and usability of the new technology.

Keep the survey to a manageable length. Use both open-ended and closed questions.

Analysing and processing feedback All data regardless of how and from where it was collected must be summarised against the performance and usability indicators so they are more manageable. In almost all case, both quantitative and qualitative data will be collected and used.

The performance measurements such as error rates will be quantitative and will be easy to interpret.

Performance measurements such as reliability could be a combination of qualitative and quantitative data.

Usability indicators could be qualitative or quantitative.

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Indicators Poor Satisfactory Good ExcellentSupportHelp desk services

Support mechanisms are non-existent or not adequate.

Support mechanisms exist. But fees associated with help desk calls are high and response times are slow.

Support mechanisms exist. Fees for help desk calls are reasonable but response times are slow. Cheat sheets and how-to guides are available for some features.

Excellent support mechanisms. Reasonable fees and acceptable response times. Relevant cheat sheets and how-to guides are accessible through the web-based support system.

Technical needs assessmentNeeds assessment conducted for implementation

Needs assessment was not conducted.

Some groups of stakeholders were surveyed to identify computer hardware requirements.

Needs for all stakeholders identified however not all needs are accounted for in the final implementation.

An elaborate and comprehensive needs assessment was conducted and it all stakeholders were well informed about the improvements that would be introduced.

Indicators Poor Satisfactory Good ExcellentTrainingTraining prior to and during implementation

Training was not provided.

Training was provided in large groups.

More customise training for small groups.

A comprehensive training plan was derived and all users were trained in groups for common skills and on a one-to-one basis for user specific tasks.

CustomisationUser customisation

All features are set and customisation is not an option

Desktop attributes such as fonts and colours could be customised to suit the user’s needs

Power users can customise certain features. Ordinary uses cannot change any features

Power users can customise most features where as ordinary users can change a limited number of features.

Integration

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Compatibility The new software is not compatible with any old packages that performed similar tasks.

New software is partially compatible with old technologies however the administrator has stopped making any reference to data in the previous system.

New software is backward compatible with the old software but does need some intervention with data conversions.

New software is totally backward compatible with the old software.

Indicators Poor Satisfactory Good Excellent

PerformanceValue for Money

The technology has not produced any cost advantages that was anticipated. In fact, the new technology costs more money to the organisation.

The new technology has not enforced any additional expenses (running costs) compared to the old technologies used previously.

The technology has minimized costs

The technology is proving to be producing a profit.

Speed (Throughput)

Output of new technology is slower compared to the previous technologies.

New Technology is comparable with old other technologies.

New Technology is lot more efficient than all previous technologies.

New Technology is producing more than three times faster than the previous system.

Quality The quality of output is not acceptable. Error rate is more than 5%.

The quality of output is comparable to older technologies and is acceptable. Less than 5% defects.

Produces good quality output. Less than 2% defects.

The quality of output is rated as very high. Less than 0.5% defects.

SummaryWe began with a discussion of the need for and process of evaluation when implementing new technology. Then we moved on to planning an evaluation, key indicators of usability and performance, and environmental considerations when purchasing new equipment. Then we explored using feedback, its value and how to gather, analyse and process it. We finished with an example of a scoring system to identify how the new system is performing with regards to usability and performance.

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Check your understanding Name 3 key usability indicators

Identify 3 key performance indicators.

Name 3 ways of gathering feedback.

Learning Activity 4.1: Practice Practice your training skills on a new user. Use the Skills Checklist on page 35 to ensure that the person you train can do all that is listed there.

Glossary of TermsBatch Non-continuous (non-real time) processing of data

Benchmark the act of running a computer program, a set of programs, or other operations, in order to assess the relative performance of an object, normally by running a number of standard tests and trials against it

CLI Command Line Interface

GUI Graphical User Interface

ISO image a special file that contains the entire contents of a CD or DVD disc commonly used to install an operating system

OS Operating System - The most important program that runs on a computer. Every general-purpose computer must have an operating system to run other programs.

Partition part of a hard disk that is dedicated to a particular operating system or application and accessed as a single unit

Real-time transmission or processing of data transactions as they occur, instead of waiting for a certain number of transactions to accumulate before they are processed (batch processing)

Swap file an area on your hard disk used as virtual memory

Virtual memory

memory created by using the hard disk to simulate additional random-access memory

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